Hay bags and porta grazers again

[scislandsprite]

I also had the Helix feeder and my horse was pretty rough with it. I eventually took it out of her stall as she was starting to crack it and I didn’t want her to destroy it. She’s not rough to the point where she decimates the SmartPak hay nets though, I have one going on 6 years which has held up better than the Kiwi Helix feeder. IMO if the horse has gone through the SmartPak net then I would be hesitant about buying a Helix feeder unless you can buy one used since they’re pricy new.

For the Portagrazer, could you put one of those huge salt licks in the bottom of it? One that weighs like 30ish lbs or more to try and discourage him from bouncing around the stall? This was the issue I had with the Kiwi Helix feeder actually, she spent all night throwing and flipping it which wasn’t great for her neck. The Portagrazer would probably work if you could weigh down the bottom of it!

[Simkie]

@erinmeri

Our barn has struck out with Porta Grazers, sadly.

How did they not work for you? Have always wanted to try and hear overwhelmingly glowing reviews. Curious about your negatives.

[erinmeri]

@Simkie

How did they not work for you? Have always wanted to try and hear overwhelmingly glowing reviews. Curious about your negatives.

It wasn’t for my horse, but barn staff found that horses had trouble getting to the hay. Maybe it was a one off, but seemed the grate thing didn’t push down on the top of the hay enough, hay didn’t poke up enough through holes and horse couldn’t get into holes to access hay. Had much better luck using slow feed nets, which is what several of us use now.

[anon68314200]

The porta grazer does have to be loaded a certain way. There are diagrams on the website. I also ‘start’ the hay draw by pulling some through the holes. The only thing I am not sure about is if my horse is going to toss it around the stall.

[erinmeri]

@anon68314200

The porta grazer does have to be loaded a certain way. There are diagrams on the website. I also ‘start’ the hay draw by pulling some through the holes. The only thing I am not sure about is if my horse is going to toss it around the stall.

I wasn’t involved, but we have a pretty great BM who has decades of experience and whose own children are a pro and a vet tech. Typically when things don’t work, they try and figure out why and adjust. For example, our new bay steamer wasn’t properly steaming the hay, so they built a leveled gravel pad and voila, it worked!

I do know that when my horse was both put on a diet and mandated soaked or steamed hay, I wanted to go the portagrazer route and was discouraged. We still have it sitting in the attic last I checked.

I know people love them, but maybe either the learning curve can be steep or they don’t work for everyone. Just our experience…

[SadieRidingHorses]

@erinmeri I wonder if the barn staff made the same mistake that I did initially and put the lid with the holes in upside down, because that’s the issue that I was having. I almost got rid of it before I took one last look at the pictures on their website and realized my mistake.

[erinmeri]

Could be! But like I mentioned in my last post, they usually do a great job of trial and error to figure it out. I think we may be in the minority of people for whom the PortaGrazer doesn’t work. Totally separately, I do worry about tooth wear.

[lenapesadie]

I love my Porta Grazer. That being said, in addition to the issues w loading the hay and the lid being set properly, I believe dense / compressed hay and horses that are fussy / less driven eaters are less suitable for the Porta Grazers. Just what I’ve seen w my horses and my hay. Tagging @Simkie in case these might be considerations for her

[theresak]

@anon68314200

The only thing I am not sure about is if my horse is going to toss it around the stall.

I have a porta grazer for my young, 17.1h gelding who ripped hay nets every night once he had front shoes. I wanted something he could literally stand in and not get stuck or destroy. We use small bale flakes and some large bale flakes and both work fine. To get hay out when it’s really full, he uses his nose to push the lid down a bit and turns the lid to fluff some hay up into the holes. Once it’s not as full, he can nibble hay out pretty easily.

He moves it all around his stall usually in an upright position but knocks it over sometimes. He’ll use his feet to let everyone know his feeder is on it’s side, but if you leave him alone he pops it back upright with his head in <10 minutes. He’ll often be eating out of the feeder even if he has some loose hay on the ground.

I started with the standard insert/lid and ended up getting one of the 10 hole lids to slow him down some more. He doesn’t have an issue with either.

When the feeder is totally full, it’s pretty heavy. Even mostly empty, if the horse wants the last bit of hay, they’ll tip it upright to finish it. They don’t really toss them around, mostly tip over and roll them a bit. Honestly it’s not nearly as loud as some of the horses ripping away at their hay net/hay hoops.